Where we work India

CHENNAI - INDIA

At 5.30pm every night, apart from Sundays, dozens of children gather on the rooftop of a house on the outskirts of Madras.

They will have already been at school all day but happily spend an extra hour-and-a-half at the education centre, learning to read and write. The centre is one of nine we run in the city and surrounding area, serving around 430 children. Aged between five and 13, many of the students live in basic thatched roofed houses in which they cook in one corner and sleep in their other and have and little or no furniture. Many of their mothers work as servants or on building projects, earning around £20 a month.

Learning to read and write

Although the children attend Government-run schools, many have little understanding of reading and writing. At the education centres, they learn the Tamil alphabet and basic words before progressing to reading passages and filling in questions and answers. They are also given the chance to hear Bible stories and find out about Christian values. Many children see an improvement in their work at regular school. Some former students have gone on to college or university while others now help teach others. Leading the project is Paul Gnarajan who, just days after arriving in the UK to volunteer with An Open Door, knew God had big plans for him back in India. He and his family opened the first education centre at their home and within a month had 50 students.

Other projects and the future

In 2004, just days after the Tsunami hit, Paul and a team of helpers travelled to two fishing villages where whole streets had been washed away, coconut trees uprooted and people had lost everything. Among the aid we were able to provide were vital prawn nets and fishing accessories as well as children’s school books. Our next major project is to open a tailoring school for women and a typewriting school where young people can learn skills essential for computing.